Workout of the Day

Dec 20

I Dare Ya

For those of you who are attending class today, the training calls for heavy reps of sandbag over shoulder. Have whatever opinion you want about sandbags or atlas stones or kegs or any of the other odd object/strongman equipment we use, this point is indisputable: the implements demand the (proper) execution. In the case of the “over the shoulder” movement, the proper execution we’re talking about is hip extension.

If you’re interested in having a tangible understanding of what I mean, I invite you to try a little experiment today. Attempt to complete a sandbag over the shoulder without achieving the essential athletic pattern of hip extension. I dare ya.

Assuming you are using a proper load (read: something heavy enough to be challenging for you), there is simply no way to complete the sandbag over shoulder exercise without moving into hip extension (at least, not without some strange acrobatics that would negate the experiment and movement all together). The sandbag is awkward -- hard to hold, uneven, large diameter -- and as such, it takes full extension of the hips (and some velocity) to move its center of mass far enough over or behind yours to get the bag where you want it to go.

While athletes may spend years in football strength and conditioning rooms or weightlifting gyms attempting to tap into the deep well of athletic performance contained within this hip extension pattern, we’ve found that the right implement, the right load, and a little bit of coaching can get anyone hitting full extension of the hips in a matter of minutes. That’s effective training.